Prosperous soul, mortgage neutrality & creativity Year 2

skint_spice

Good luck with your viewings!

EssexHebridean

Exciting having viewings lined up SH - good luck! 

savingholmes

Thanks Skint and EH

I love being part of MSE. I'm one of the lucky people getting the £100 from Nwde. I was lucky to get it as I emptied the savings account for DD's car the following day. I am going to treat it as paying for today's birthday outing even though I haven't got the money yet. (Actual birthday tomorrow). 7 or 8 of us are off to walk among monkeys... We are going to eat here after - I've already peeled potatoes and we're just having sausage, mash and veg so nothing complicated. I've bought mini chocolate rolls using the free from offering at Mr M and some normal ones for DD and I.

Apparently my 9 year old nephew is obsessed with mowing lawns so I may point him at the front garden. I was doing 'no mow' but it's grown a lot in a few weeks and if I'm taking photos in two weeks time I want it to look good so don't want it a yellow colour from having been starved of oxygen by letting it grow too long.

It's a revelation how much bigger the kitchen feels with all the visual clutter removed - so I may do a spot of reorganising before going out. I have 2 hours to get dressed and sort the house out before I have to leave. There's still a strong paint smell so I opened the window again.  

I'm also due to get the £150 COL payment within the next month or two which is fab news - and I am planning to apply that to my gas bill.

Have a good weekend where you are

savingholmes

I sent £100 to savings yesterday - just in case for the Nwde offer - not realised the key date had been and gone. I'll leave it there for now - and deduct it from next month's planned savings. A £25 regular saver has also happened.

savingholmes

I've had a go at calculating costs of moving:

Stamp duty up to          £2500 - depends on value of house
Legal costs circa          £2500
Professional removals £3000 - depend on how much I declutter - and whether I go with a man with van type route instead                                                              (probably would but just trying to understand the costs now so not a shock later!)
Porting mortgage            £200

So I could need £8,200. I am currently at £6,272 for total savings so a further £1,928 to find. If it wasn't possible to port my mortgage - I'd probably stay a while or pick a different house. 

I've just looked up the interest rates on any additional borrowing if needed. They seem really high - if I needed any -  I might be better off with a loan than a mortgage.

I'm eating into my getting ready time so I'd best make myself walk away from my computer and journal and finish getting ready!

lellybun

I love being part  of MSE too! I am also in line for the Nationwide payout, couldn't quite believe it when I saw the email!!

I also love how other people's diaries inspire, when you wrote about how much bigger the kitchen feels when it's been decluttered, I spent about 20 minutes just clearing the work surfaces a bit and it looks so much better!

Have a great weekend, enjoy the birthday outing 

Lelly x

jwil

Hope the viewings go well and you have a lovely weekend.

FlacosFloozie

Exciting times! Hope the viewings go well.

savingholmes

Thanks @lellybun Flaco and Jwil

Enjoyed the monkeys yesterday but it was exhausting and full on. Took DD and her friend plus my sister's family. They took far longer there than I expected - and had taken a picnic - where I was expecting to go around and come back for lunch... They loved it though. The kids came back and played in the garden too. The oldest is obsessed with lawn mowing currently so I got him to do mine. Bless him - and his Dad - as his Dad went back over it and strimmed, cut back an overgrown cordyline type plant and laid some bark for me. He enjoyed sitting in the arbour on his own for a bit too. The kids and their Mum also did some colouring.

I've realised in my little list of moving costs I've missed off EA costs... Ooops! Although I could use a free one... 

I am struggling to find what I want on RM for my budget. The first viewing is tonight. Two of  the properties I enquired about have already gone. In the past when I've bought - I knew pretty much immediately I wanted the house when I walked in - but I had perhaps clearer aspirations about where I wanted to live and affordability. Now my options are much wider in terms of geography it's harder to pin down.

badmemory

Have you thought about whether you want to do the viewings of yours yourself or whether you want the EA to do them?